Bill Chappell

Bill Chappell is a writer and producer on the Newsdesk, in the heart of NPR's newsroom in Washington, D.C.

Chappell's work at NPR has ranged from being the site's first full-time homepage editor to being the lead writer and editor for online coverage of several Olympic Games, from London 2012 to Pyeongchang 2018. His assignments have included being the lead web producer for NPR's trip to Asia's Grand Trunk Road, as well as establishing the Peabody Award-winning StoryCorps on NPR.org.

In the past, Chappell has edited and coordinated digital features for Morning Edition and Fresh Air, in addition to editing the rundown of All Things Considered. He frequently contributes to other NPR blogs, such as All Tech Considered and The Salt.

In 2009, Chappell was a key editorial member of the small team that redesigned NPR's web site. One year later, NPR.org won its first Peabody Award, along with the National Press Foundation's Excellence in Online Journalism award.

At NPR, Chappell has trained both digital and radio staff to use digital tools to tell compelling stories, in addition to "evangelizing" — promoting more collaboration between legacy and digital departments.

Prior to joining NPR, Chappell was part of the Assignment Desk at CNN International, handling coverage in areas from the Middle East, Asia, Africa, Europe, and Latin America, and coordinating CNN's pool coverage on major events.

Chappell's work for CNN included editing digital video and producing web stories for SI.com. He also edited and produced stories for CNN.com's features division.

Before joining CNN, Chappell wrote about movies, restaurants and music for alternative weeklies, in addition to his first job: editing the police blotter.

A holder of bachelor's degrees in English and History from the University of Georgia, Chappell attended graduate school for English Literature at the University of South Carolina.

A second Russian athlete has failed a doping test at the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics. Nadezhda Sergeeva, a bobsled athlete, failed a drug test for a banned heart drug, the Russian Bobsled Federation announced on Friday.

Sergeeva failed a test on Feb. 18, the federation said on its Facebook page. It adds, "A few days before that, on Feb. 13, her sample was clean."

The federation says that the bobsledder does not have a prescription for the drug.

Its location isn't a secret, and neither are its ties to Russia – but a visitor can be forgiven for feeling a bit surreptitious on arriving at the Sports House, a party hall for Russian Olympic fans to meet at the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics.

After all, the Russian Olympic Committee is in the doghouse. It was suspended in December, and dozens of its athletes are banned. It had also been widely reported before the Olympics that Russia wouldn't be among the dozen or so countries to open a hospitality venue during the Games.

The U.S. women's hockey team owns Olympic gold for the first time in 20 years, after breaking Canada's remarkable streak of success in a gripping final at the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics. The only previous U.S. win had come in the tournament's first year, in 1998.

When the American women finally received their gold medals, they were placed on their necks by former player Angela Ruggiero, who was on the last U.S. Olympic team to win it all.

U.S. skiing star Lindsey Vonn turned in a time that was a half-second off the lead in the downhill Wednesday in South Korea, fast enough to win a medal in her final downhill race of the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics – and almost certainly the last of her Olympic career. It's the third Olympic medal overall for Vonn.

"It was tough to contemplate this being my last Olympic downhill," Vonn said afterward. "I struggled to try to keep the emotions together, but I left it all on the mountain like I said I would."

In the last event of her last Olympics – she has been to five – Kikkan Randall finally did what no American woman had ever done: win a medal in cross-country skiing. And she made it a gold, as Randall and her teammate Jessica Diggins won the team sprint free final at the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics.